Despite the fact that our world has been functionally flattened, our innate tendency is to still connect locally. We shop local, eat local and usually build partnerships with people we get to know in our own communities. Perhaps that will change in the metaverse, but while we’re still living in the “mesaverse” we tend to flock together. We’re showing up for each other at networking events, seminars, interest groups, dinners out with friends, concerts and comedy shows. That’s because showing up for each other matters. That’s how we make personal connections, look someone in the eye and enable meandering, meaningful conversations that lead us toward unanticipated opportunities.
For the past few weeks, we have been showing up to celebrate, discover and engage with innovators across Florida. We left the Synapse Summit in February energized by the more than 5,000 people who traveled from across Florida, the U.S. and the world to come together for our fifth annual innovation event. And now is the perfect time to visit them in their hometown and discover what’s happening locally and find opportunities to strengthen the connections that will help Florida’s innovators thrive.
We’ve spent time in the Panhandle for the liftoff of Launch Tally, a community-driven initiative linking top tech companies, nonprofits, government, universities and entrepreneurs in Tallahassee’s growing tech community. The lead “Tallynaut,” as they’re called, is also a tech CEO who has successfully built and scaled his or her data company while supporting aspiring entrepreneurs through programs at Domi Station, Florida A&M University and FSU’s Moran College of Entrepreneurship. Networking group Nerds Around Tallahassee (NAT) gives developers and engineers an authentic way to connect. This October, the Synapse team will head back north to Pensacola to participate in ITEN Wired, a conference for innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and network. The “Cyber Coast” is becoming known for more than just their beautiful white sandy beaches.
We showed up for our partners at eMerge Americas, the anchor event to Miami Tech Week, part of April’s South Florida Tech Month. A diverse and dynamic line up of local leaders, nationally renowned innovators and international representatives assembled at the Miami Convention Center. Miami is becoming a global tech hub and arguably the crypto capital of the U.S. Perhaps most important is the welcoming and inclusive vibe of the town. A weekly happy hour started with 20 and now regularly attracts more than 200 people. Drive just a few miles north of Miami and you’ll uncover a community filled with talent and innovation from Broward to North Palm Beach. This is the heart of South Florida’s innovation boom, with energy-focused incubators such as 35 Mules connecting innovation to enterprise, and new community innovation hubs such as the Levan Center at Nova Southeastern University in Broward County, and the growth of the South Florida Tech Hub connecting the community’s tech startups with opportunity.
And just across I-4 in Orlando, the community is aligning decades of innovation in diverse industries to rally together as the MetaCenter. The region may be best known as a hub of entertainment innovation, but there’s a history of innovation in modeling, simulation and training, defense tech, health tech, fintech, aerospace and a deep bench of technologists whose work all contributes to building the many layers needed to create for the metaverse. The team at the Orlando Tech Council is bringing them all together to move at lightning speed into the future. They’ve even tapped Synapse Summit keynote speaker Cathy Hackl, godmother of the metaverse and FIU alumna, as an adviser and guide to this new world.
We’re excited to share our journeys throughout Florida as we continue to discover together how innovation lives here.
Synapse Florida is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that connects entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders to accelerate success in Florida’s thriving economies.
